1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a disk device wherein a driving unit comprising a rotational driving unit and a head is elastically supported within a casing.
2. Description of the Related Art
Disk devices such as those designed for mounting in vehicles have a driving unit including a rotational driving unit for rotating disks and an optical head elastically supported within a casing by an elastic member such as dampers.
In a standby state waiting for a disk to be inserted from an insertion opening, the driving unit engages a locking member within the casing and is placed in a locked state, thereby facilitating guiding of the disk inserted from the insertion opening to the driving unit.
Once the disk has been clamped by the rotational driving unit, the lock of the driving unit is disengaged, and thus the driving unit is elastically supported by the dampers or the like. Accordingly, undesirable effects on playback and recording can be prevented even in the event that there are external vibrations applied during driving of the disk and using the optical head for playback or recording, since the vibrations will be absorbed.
Also, with disk devices wherein a stock unit is provided for stocking multiple disks within the casing, the driving unit is locked at the time of transferring disks between the rotational driving unit and the stock unit, thereby enabling disk transfer to be performed between the rotational driving unit and a predetermined area within the stock unit in a sure manner.
However, in the event that the driving unit is in a locked state by the locking member when in the standby state for waiting for a disk as described above, the driving unit is kept in a locked state for long periods of time. Accordingly, the state wherein the driving unit and the locking member are constantly fit one to another is maintained for a long time, leading to fatigue, deformation, destruction, etc., of the lock-engaged portion due to external vibrations or the like. Also, there is the concern that the elasticity of the elastic supporting member, such as dampers or the like, might be lost due to the constant application of external force.
Further, in the event that the locked state of the driving unit continues for a long time, vehicle vibrations or the like, for example, continuously act upon the driving unit, leading to problems of fatigue of mechanisms within the driving unit due to vibrations, or chattering noise due to vibration of mechanisms within the driving unit.
Also, with conventional disk devices, because the driving unit is in a locked state when transferring disks to the insertion opening or when transferring disks between the rotational driving unit and the stock unit, in the event that an operation error occurs during these operations and recovery therefrom cannot be effected, the disk stops partway through the operation, and furthermore, the operation stops with the driving unit in a locked state.
In the event that such a phenomenon occurs, repairs must be made, but the disk has stopped partway through an operation and accordingly is susceptible to becoming scratched. Further, the driving unit is left locked, allowing secondary malfunctioning such as damaging of the lock-engaged portions, for example.